Accessories

The folks at iFixit got their hands on a final version of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Retina Display this week, and what did they do? They tore it apart. Here are a couple of things they found:

Samsung SSD and Hynix RAM cannot be upgraded. You’ll have to decide upfront how much capacity you’ll need over the life of your MacBook Pro.

The battery is glued to the housing and the display is fused into the assembly. Replacing the battery or the display will be expensive.

Maybe the amount of power packed into the MacBook Pro will somewhat make up for this criticism. The laptop is packing 95% of juice. That’s enough for seven hours of power. Even for some of the smartphones and tablets out there that kind of battery life is a stretch.

Ask anyone what Near-field communication (NFC) technology does and they’ll tell you it processes mobile payments. Now Samsung is going to give NFC a whole new meaning with TecTiles.

TecTiles are little “stickers” with a simple NFC tag inside. Each sticker lets the user “program” the sticker to have a specific response whenever any device with an NFC chip passes nearby. You designate a TecTile to perform a specific function like open a website, change a device setting, make a call, download a document, or whatever else you’ve told the sticker to do. When you tap the screen above the TecTile it will do what you programmed it to.

Unlike QR codes, NFC doesn’t require launching an app or using your phone’s camera — just put your phone on top of it and hit “OK.”

We hear the app is very easy to use, and within seconds we were able to program the TecTile with simple commands like phoning a specific number. As long as you don’t “lock” the TecTile, you can re-set it to other programs.

Samsung’s TecTile app runs on any Samsung phone with an NFC chip, including the Samsung Galaxy S 3 and Samsung Galaxy S 2, the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S, and the Galaxy S Blaze. The TecTile app will be available in Google Play. You can purchase stickers in packs of five for $14.99 from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Users of Apple’s Mac line of desktop computers are pretty disappointed by the lack of attention being given to the Mac Pro and the iMac at this week’s Worldwide Developer Conference. The Mac Pro only received a minor spec update, and it even lost its designation as “new” in the Mac Pro online store. The iMac didn’t even see as minor an update as the Mac Pro’s.

Pre-conference rumors had suggested that both the Mac Pro and the iMac were in for some big changes, including a Retina-fueled refresh.

Apple the manufacturer of iPhone 4S and iPad3 seems to be making a big effort to quiet the mob that fears for the life of their desktop computers. One concerned user emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook who responded: “Our pro customers are really important to us...don't worry as we're working on something really great for later next year.”

Reports by Forbes and New York Times columnist David Pogue corroborated the news that Mac Pro and iMac updates are coming next year. The information was provided directly by an Apple spokesperson who said that new models and new designs of the Mac Pro, as well as the iMac desktop, are in the works and will likely be released in 2013.

All music stored in your Cloud Drive can now be played on both your iPhone and iPod with a dedicated app just released by Amazon. The free app allows users of iOS devices to stream or download music stored online in an Amazon Cloud account.

Cloud Player lets you manage and create playlists, and play music already stored on your mobile devices. This initial version allows you to transfer your iTunes purchases. It won’t let you buy new tunes through the app just yet.

Amazon customers get 5GB of free cloud storage and can buy additional space, including 20GB for $20/year or 50GB for $50/year. Users who buy a storage plan receive unlimited space for MP3 and AAC (.m4a) music files at no additional cost. According to Amazon, this offer is scheduled to end soon.

Hey, T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 2 owners: your Android 4.0.3 is ready for you. If you want it, you’ve got to go and get it yourself. Samsung requires you use their Kies software from a computer to download and install the update, so it’s not available directly to your cell phone.

Now if you want to use it, you’ll need to work a little more to find what’s different about this Android version. Samsung’s TouchWiz touch interface looks pretty much the same as the last version, so the changes won’t be blatantly obvious.

The Android 4.0 update incorporates the majority of the new features Google introduced with the Ice Cream Sandwich version for new devices. Learn how to install ICS on your phone from T-Mobile’s support page. To learn more about all the changes included in the new OS, T-Mobile has put together a detailed “Top 10 things to know about TouchWiz Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS): Samsung Galaxy S II” page on its site as well.

Intel is doing what it can to stand up to multi-core market dominators like Samsung, NVIDIA and Qualcomm. Intel’s general manager of mobile and communications Mike Bell acknowledged that Intel has supported multi-core chips since Android 2.3.4 but noted that internal testing had shown that multi-core chips sometimes run slower than single-core models. He said they’ve concluded that, in order to address this problem, Android needs to be more compatible with multi-core processors.

“If you take a look a lot of cell phone on the market, when you turn on the second core or having the second core there [on die], the [current] leakage is high enough and their power threshold is low enough because of the size of the case that it isn’t entirely clear you get much of a benefit to turning the second core on,” Bell claimed. “We ran our own numbers and [in] some of the use cases we’ve seen, having a second core is actually a detriment, because of the way some of the people have not implemented their thread scheduling.”

Bell also said that he has “taken a look at the multiple core implementations in the market, and frankly, in a thermal and/or power constrained environment – what has been implemented – it isn’t obvious to me you really get the advantage for the size and the cost of what’s going into that part.”

Intel isn’t talking about a deadline for the delivery of a multi-core Atom processor. Bell would only say that the company is investing in “software to fix the scheduler and fix the threading so if we do multi-core products it actually takes advantage of it.”

Like Skype, Line provides free calls and messages all over the world, regardless of mobile network provider. Line is already being used in over 230 countries by 40 million people (18 million of these are in Japan).

This new version makes use of the unique Windows (R) Phone user-interface system, Metro UI, which increases user friendliness and promotes stress-free communication by arranging text for increased clarit. It further introduces sideways menu scrolling for ease of access, a distinctive characteristic of Windows (R) Phone. Although the release of this version will feature the all-important messaging function, it will not include the free-calling function. NHN Japan plans to add this function in the near future.

The Windows (R) Phone version is seen as a welcome addition to the current versions of LINE which are available on iPhone, Android, feature-phones and PCs as well as a browser version for smart-tablets. NHN Japan hopes to increase the strength of its mobile messenger service by making it available across all platforms and devices.

Line is downloadable, but currently the app has the free calling capability disabled. The company is working on fixing the call problem, but the service can be used for texting.

There’s an updated Spotify app now available for download in the Google Play marketplace. The new version of the Android application has been completely overhauled, and the app now fully supports Android 4.

Available new features on Google Play include:

Totally new app with full support for Android 4.0

All-new slide-out navigation

Crossfade/gapless playback settings

Widget – control Spotify from the home screen

Playlist folder support

Even more social – check out friends’ profile pages and playlists on the go

Artist imagery in high resolution

Related artist view – available for the first time on mobile

‘Extreme’ sound quality setting for 320kbps listening

Play queue

Last.fm scrobbling

So much faster!

In Spotify VP of products Gustav Södertröm’s words, “For all our Android users, this Spotify update is a huge leap forward. We’ve rebuilt it from top to bottom, making it faster, slicker and much better looking. The feedback we got from the preview we released a few weeks back was really positive. We wanted to give our users something special…”

According to one intrepid member of Xda-Developers, the HTC One X has several wifi related problems that will either adversely affect the device’s battery life or prevent it from connecting to wifi networks.

The Xda forum member who goes by the name “Bigoliver” describes a simple procedure that he says can be used test for this wifi problem: gently squeeze the side back of your phone between the camera lens and the volume buttons. Watch for changes in the wifi signal. If you see the signal strength improve, only to drop back down when you stop squeezing, then your device has wifi connectivity problems. You should trade it in for a new one. If it’s too late for a no-cost exchange on your cell phone you’re hosed.

An HTC representative has posted in the Xda-Developers forums that the company is aware of the issue and is asking for feedback to help the company’s engineering team pinpoint the problem.

Thanks to Dustin Karnes at Android Guys for bringing this one to our attention.

Verizon Wireless is the first major U.S. carrier to announce details on a data sharing plan. Verizon is calling theirs “Share Everything Plans”, which package shared voice minutes, text messages and data. Smartphones, tablets and feature phones are all eligible devices.

Share Everything Plans include unlimited minutes, unlimited texting, video and picture messaging, and a data allowance for up to 10 Verizon Wireless devices. In addition, the Mobile Hotspot service for all wireless devices is included.

Costs start at $30 per device for basic cell phones and $40 per device for smartphones. 1GB of shared data will run $50 per month and include unlimited voice calling and text messaging.

For $100 plus the monthly fees for each device, up to 10GB of data per month can be shared between devices. Unlimited voice and SMS are included.

“Customers asked, and today Verizon Wireless delivered an industry first,” said Tami Erwin, vice president and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless. “Share Everything Plans are the new standard for wireless service.” Verizon Wireless’s Share Everything plans become available on June 28th. Both existing and new customers are eligible.